Marwan I
Videos
Marwan ibn al-Hakam ibn Abi al-As ibn Umayya, commonly known as Marwan I, was the fourth Umayyad caliph, ruling for less than a year in 684–685. He founded the Marwanid ruling house of the Umayyad dynasty, which replaced the Sufyanid house after its collapse in the Second Fitna and remained in power until 750.
Drachma of Marwan I
A general view of Medina (pictured in 1913), where Marwan spent much of his career, first as a top aide of Caliph Uthman and later as governor for Caliph Mu'awiya I and leader of the Umayyad clan
Marwan was elected by the Syrian tribal nobility to succeed his Umayyad kinsmen as caliph in Damascus (pictured in 1895)
Ali
Videos
Ali ibn Abi Talib was the cousin and son-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and was the fourth Rashidun caliph who ruled from 656 to 661, as well as the first Shia imam. Born to Abu Talib ibn Abd al-Muttalib and Fatima bint Asad, a young Ali was raised by his elder cousin Muhammad and was among the first to accept his teachings.
Gouache illustration of Ali (centre) and his sons, Hasan and Husayn, 1838, by an unknown painter
Ali in an illustrated copy of the Turkish epic Siyer-i nebi
Muhammad and Ali, a folio from the fifteenth century Iranian epic Khavarannama